Give Yourself Goosebumps
Give Yourself Goosebumps is a horror fiction gamebook series in which the reader chooses the story. All of the books are credited to R.L. Stine, but many of the books were ghostwritten. The books were written from 1995 to 2000, starting with Escape from the Carnival of Horrors, and ending with All-Day Nightmare. There are fifty books in the series, including special editions, and all of them are currently out of print, except for Please Don't Feed the Vampire!, which was made into a Classic Goosebumps book as a tie-in to the ''Goosebumps'' film. Background After the success of the original series, Scholastic used R.L. Stine's experience in writing gamebooks to make a spin-off series where there is more than one ending, and the reader can be scared more times than they would be in a regular book. The books are very similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. On the bottom of the page, there is a choice on what page to go to. They are not meant to be read in numerical order or else it will not make sense. While all of the books are credited to Stine, many of the books were ghostwritten by various authors. Since none of the books credit ghostwriters, the actual authors to many of the books remain unknown. The only book that has been publicly confirmed to be ghostwritten is All-Day Nightmare, which was written by Scott Westerfeld. Premise There are over twenty endings per book, and the reader often makes choices by flipping a coin, rolling a dice, or other means. If the reader makes the obviously wrong choice, they may be told to go back and pick another option, or they may "die" right there on the spot. Storyline The majority of books in the series have two separate stories based around the same plot line that the reader can take part in. One example of this is in Little Comic Shop of Horrors, which will either be about trying to escape from a comic book, or a basement underneath the shop. The books Escape from the Carnival of Horrors and Return to the Carnival of Horrors both focus on either rides, or sideshow attractions. In some books, the continuity between scenarios is fairly good, but sometimes it is ignored (Lost in Stinkeye Swamp uses the same plot twist in both main scenarios, but with different origins.) Some of the books, also have a third storyline, generally called a "side story", which only consists of a few endings, and is over and done with after not much time. Some of the side stories, actually have no good ending, and must be avoided - the earliest example of this was Trapped in Bat Wing Hall. ''In some books, the choice leading to the side story actually appears before the "branch" between the two main stories does. ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel and It Came from the Internet! in the main series, and most of the Special Edition books only had one storyline for the reader. The final book in the series, Weekend at Poison Lake, has four full storylines and the reader is a completely different character in each one. Deaths and endings Deaths are common and there are usually only a few happy endings per book. Every book has at least ONE positive ending. It is not told directly how you die, but it is implied, and it often ends with the words THE END. Sometimes, it is incorporated into a sentence. Other times, it says simply "END" or has a different phrase all together that makes sense within the ending (like saying "GAME OVER", if the ending involved virtual reality). There is often an ending which is basically where the reader misses out on his/her adventure, and as such the book will be somewhat insulting to the reader and point out that they have chosen a "boring" ending. The reader will also be ridiculed if they choose an obviously bad choice, and then either demand that the reader turns to the "correct" page, or will end the story there and then. In some of the books, there is at least one bad ending, which is hinted at throughout, and therefore expected by the reader. This is usually because it is the villain's main intention, but sometimes there will be another reason. Examples include: becoming a monster in Trapped in Bat Wing Hall, shrinking to nothing in Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter, Joanie disappearing in Under the Magician's Spell, the graveyard message being completed in T''he Curse of the Creeping Coffin'', becoming a wax figure, or having your face ripped off in Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum, using "Guest Shot" too many times, and melting in Little Comic Shop of Horrors (although in the one ending that this kills you in, it isn't actually your fault), being frozen by the Annihilator 3000 in Toy Terror: Batteries Included, getting eaten by Ed the ghoul in Lost in Stinkeye Swamp, captured or eaten by plants in You're Plant Food!, becoming a clown in Trapped in the Circus of Fear, or becoming a picture in The Curse of the Cave Creatures. Types of endings Although the endings differed depending on the book itself, the types of endings you can have for each book are of the same environment, although not all books use each type of ending. The types of endings are as follows: *Death *Permanent transformation *Slavery, or loss of control *Frozen or transforming into a stationary object (sometimes still aware of surroundings) *Suffering a fate worse than death *Living Dead, in some way or another *Achieving the hinted bad ending *Missing out on the adventure *Being trapped *Winding up in the wrong time and/or place *Surviving the adventure, but with something wrong (like you've been transformed, for example) *Surviving the adventure, but not really doing that much *Surviving the adventure and achieving your goal While these endings are the most common, there are many more types of endings in each book. Covers Tim Jacobus, the illustrator for the original series and Goosebumps Series 2000, illustrated'' Escape from the Carnival of Horrors; his signature is covered up on the front by ''Choose from Over 20 Different Scary Endings!, but it is visible on the back. Mark Nagata took over from book two, Tick Tock, You're Dead!, to twenty-four, Lost in Stinkeye Swamp. Craig White illustrated the rest, using computer animation software, from twenty-five, Shop Till You Drop...Dead! to forty-two, All-Day Nightmare and all eight special editions. Until the twenty-third book, Zapped in Space, the US covers boasted a metallic-holographic prism effect involving a single abstract design repeated on the cover that would change shape or form when it was exposed to different areas of light. All US versions had a single tagline on the back of the book. In the UK, books until Please Don't Feed the Vampire! had covers that had the majority of their artwork obscured by a slime-like substance. Books |-|Gallery= Carnival of Horrors.jpg|1. Escape from the Carnival of Horrors Picture1.jpg|2. Tick Tock, You're Dead! Gyg 0032.jpg|3. Trapped in Bat Wing Hall Gyg 0042.jpg|4. The Deadly Experiments of Dr. Eeek Gyg 005.jpg|5. Night in Werewolf Woods GYG6.jpg|6. Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter Gyg 0072.jpg|7. Under the Magician's Spell Gyg 0081.jpg|8. The Curse of the Creeping Coffin Gyg 009.jpg|9. The Knight in Screaming Armor GYG10.jpg|10. Diary of a Mad Mummy ImagesCADFECHA.jpg|11. Deep in the Jungle of Doom ImagesCADSQXZJ.jpg|12. Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum Gyg 013.jpg|13. Scream of the Evil Genie ImagesCADU0M57.jpg|14. The Creepy Creations of Professor Shock ImagesCA8UHSP2.jpg|15. Please Don't Feed the Vampire! Gyg 016.jpg|16. Secret Agent Grandma Gyg 017.jpg|17. Little Comic Shop of Horrors Gyg 018.jpg|18. Attack of the Beastly Babysitter Gyg 019.jpg|19. Escape from Camp Run-For-Your-Life Toy Terror Batteries Included.jpg|20. Toy Terror: Batteries Included The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island.jpg|21. The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island Gyg 022.jpg|22. Return to the Carnival of Horrors Gyg 023.jpg|23. Zapped in Space Gyg 024.jpg|24. Lost in Stinkeye Swamp Gyg 025.jpg|25. Shop Till You Drop...Dead! Gyg 026.jpg|26. Alone in Snakebite Canyon Gyg 027.jpg|27. Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel Gyg 028.jpg|28. Night of a Thousand Claws Gyg 029.jpg|29. Invaders from the Big Screen Gyg 030.jpg|30. You're Plant Food! Gyg 031.jpg|31. The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge Gyg 032.jpg|32. It's Only a Nightmare! Gyg 033.jpg|33. It Came from the Internet Gyg 034.jpg|34. Elevator to Nowhere Gyg 035.jpg|35. Hocus-Pocus Horror Gyg 036.jpg|36. Ship of Ghouls Gyg 037.jpg|37. Escape from Horror House Gyg 038.jpg|38. Into the Twister of Terror Gyg 039.jpg|39. Scary Birthday to You! Gyg 040.jpg|40. Zombie School Gyg 041.jpg|41. Danger Time Gyg 042.jpg|42. All-Day Nightmare Special Editions Gyg se1.jpg|1. Into the Jaws of Doom Gyg se2.jpg|2. Return to Terror Tower Gyg se3.jpg|3. Trapped in the Circus of Fear Gyg se4.jpg|4. One Night in Payne House Gyg se5.jpg|5. The Curse of the Cave Creatures Gyg se6.jpg|6. Revenge of the Body Squeezers Gyg se7.jpg|7. Trick or...Trapped! Gyg se8.jpg|8. Weekend at Poison Lake |-|List= #Escape from the Carnival of Horrors #Tick Tock, You're Dead! #Trapped in Bat Wing Hall #The Deadly Experiments of Dr. Eeek #Night in Werewolf Woods #Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter #Under the Magician's Spell #The Curse of the Creeping Coffin #The Knight in Screaming Armor #Diary of a Mad Mummy #Deep in the Jungle of Doom #Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum #Scream of the Evil Genie #The Creepy Creations of Professor Shock #Please Don't Feed the Vampire! #Secret Agent Grandma #Little Comic Shop of Horrors #Attack of the Beastly Babysitter #Escape from Camp Run-For-Your-Life #Toy Terror: Batteries Included #The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island #Return to the Carnival of Horrors #Zapped in Space #Lost in Stinkeye Swamp #Shop Till You Drop...Dead! #Alone in Snakebite Canyon #Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel #Night of a Thousand Claws #Invaders from the Big Screen #You're Plant Food! #The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge #It's Only a Nightmare! #It Came from the Internet #Elevator to Nowhere #Hocus-Pocus Horror #Ship of Ghouls #Escape from Horror House #Into the Twister of Terror #Scary Birthday to You! #Zombie School #Danger Time #All Day Nightmare Special Editions #Into the Jaws of Doom #Return to Terror Tower #Trapped in the Circus of Fear #One Night in Payne House #The Curse of the Cave Creatures #Revenge of the Body Squeezers #Trick or...Trapped! #Weekend at Poison Lake References Sequels and references to other books There are two books in this series that continue other Goosebumps books. These include Return to Terror Tower, which is a sequel to A Night in Terror Tower from the original series, and Revenge of the Body Squeezers, which is a sequel to Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part 1 and 2 from ''Series 2000''. Sometimes characters from other Goosebumps books are mentioned, and some actually appear as cameos, such as Slappy the Dummy and Monster Blood, who appear in Escape from the Carnival of Horrors. References in other media Film The Snake Lady, Muglani, Cronby the Troll, Professor Shock, Fifi the Vampire Poodle, Countess Yvonne, The Annihilator 3000 and the E. Ville Creeper's Plants appear in the ''Goosebumps'' film as background monsters. Video games Cronby, Fifi, and the Annhilator 3000 also appear in Goosebumps: The Game. Other monsters that didn't appear in the movie, such as Purple Peanut Butter, Officer Murphy, and The Living Mannequins also appear in the game. Trivia * All Day Nightmare ''was the last [[Goosebumps (franchise)|''Goosebumps]] book until Goosebumps Graphix six years later. Category:Give Yourself Goosebumps Category:Book Series